Word: barroso
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...Mandelson's call was ignored, as were the many other entreaties from member states, including Spain and Germany. Those Socialist-led governments, while never enamored of Barroso, would have much preferred to dodge a bothersome train wreck over the new Commission. But Buttiglione's comments about gays and women, and the fact that he had been nominated by Berlusconi, amounted to a cause that Greens, Socialists and a majority of Liberals were willing to go to the mat for. "This week was the birth of a truly European Socialist faction," said Martin Schulz, the German leader of the Socialist group...
...ratified by any member state and faces long odds in some), because those relations have been upended thanks to Berlusconi's nomination of conservative Catholic Rocco Buttiglione as Italy's member of the European Commission, the E.U.'s executive body. Commission President?designate José Manuel Dur?o Barroso had tapped Buttiglione for the Justice, Freedom and Security post, which includes responsibility for antidiscrimination and sexual equality measures as well as immigration. But Buttiglione enraged members of the European Parliament, who have the power to reject the Commission as a whole, when he referred to homosexuality as a sin and remarked...
...Schulz is now promising that the Parliament's successful pressure on Barroso scotches the chance of a unfettered "neoliberal agenda" from the new Commission, despite its pro-market complexion. "We've shown that there's no getting around the Socialists, and Barroso should take notice," he says. "We'll see it when it comes to legislating on competitiveness, on environmental protection, on public-service rules and the whole question of social protection for workers." Yet the Socialists might find it far more difficult to stay united on bread-and-butter economic issues than on civil rights for homosexuals. The governing...
...others to practice. This is exactly what U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry has promised to do on abortion. He is personally against the practice, but has vowed to uphold a woman's right to choose. Buttiglione himself has made a similar distinction. In a letter of "regret" sent to Barroso last week, he wrote: "In politics, the only relevant issue is: Are you in favor of or against discrimination? ... I am against any kind of discrimination, [which means] defending those who hold views different from your own." Buttiglione says he can erect a firewall between his personal religious convictions...
When Rocco Buttiglione shared his views on homosexuals and women with a committee of the European Parliament earlier this month, he sparked a potential showdown between the Parliament and the European Commission. Outraged M.E.P.s demanded that incoming Commission President José Manuel Dur?o Barroso either replace Buttiglione or shuffle him out of the Justice, Freedom and Security post. Barroso declined, instead promising to spread responsibility for antidiscrimination enforcement among several new Commissioners. Not good enough, say Buttiglione's opponents. The Parliament can't turn down individual Commissioners, but it can reject the Commission as a whole. And that's exactly...